According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News, that California city is looking at ways to address a decline in recycling rates and an increase in contamination.
One such measure may include larger trash bins, which is one answer to the growing amount of trash being included in recycling bins from city officials.
In January 2015 San Jose City Council will consider this and other measures proposed to reverse the decline in recycling, including:
- increasing education about proper recycling;
- reducing recycling rate targets in CWS’ contract; and
- redrawing district boundaries.
The city says it also is considering increasing enforcement, such as fines, for individuals who place nonrecyclables in their recycling bins.
The city’s audit of its Recycle Plus curbside collection program received that recycling rates declined from 36 percent in 2008 to 27 percent in 2014, according to the San Jose Mercury News. San Jose has a goal to achieve zero-waste by 2022, which doesn’t seem likely given the trend in recycling.
California Waste Solutions (CWS), which serves more than 70 percent of the city, according to the article, says nearly 40 percent of the material in recycling bins is garbage, including greasy pizza boxes, aluminum pans with leftover food, diapers, batteries and needles.
According to the new study, contamination rates are as high as 40 percent in some areas and as low as 32 percent in other places.
Kerrie Romanow, the city's environmental services director, tells the paper some contaminated material can be composted rather than landfilled and suggests CWS work with another hauler to do so.
However, officials with GreenTeam, which serves the rest of San Jose, say the company is not experiencing a problem with recycling contamination, according to the article.
San Jose fines its haulers for failing to meet the recycling goals in their contracts. While GreenTeam says it has met these goals, CWS did not do so from 2011 to 2014, resulting in nearly $900,000 in fines. The company also has been fined $560,000 in 2015, according to the San Jose Mercury News.